Some Sleep Drugs Do More Than Make You Sleep

 The United States Food and Drug Administration1 has ordered companies to place strong new warnings on thirteen drugs that treat sleep disorders. It also ordered the makers of the sleeping pills to provide information for patients explaining how to safely use the drugs.

    Last Wednesday, the FDA announced that some of these drugs can have unexpected and dangerous effects. These include the risk of life-threatening allergic reactions. They also include rare incidents of strange behavior. These include people cooking food, eating and even driving while asleep. The patients later had no memory of doing these activities while asleep.

    Last year, a member of the United States Congress2 said he had a sleep-driving incident. Patrick Kennedy, a representative from Rhode Island3crashed his car into a security barrier near the building where lawmakers meet. The accident happened in the middle of the night and no one was hurt. Mr. Kennedy said he had earlier taken a sleep medicine. He said he was also being treated with a stomach sickness drug that could cause sleepiness.

    The Food and Drug Administration did not say in its announcement how many cases of sleep-driving it had documented. However, the New York Times4 reported last year about people who said they had strange sleep events after taking the drug Ambien. Some reported sleep-driving and sleep-walking. Others said they found evidence after waking in the morning that they had cooked food or eaten in their sleep. But they had no memory of carrying out the activities.

    A. Food and Drug Administration official says that these serious side effects of sleep disorder drugs appear to be rare. But, he also says there are probably more cases than are reported.5 He says the agency believes the risk of such behaviors could be reduced if people take the drugs as directed and do not drink alcohol while taking the drugs. The Food and Drug Administration has advised drug companies to carry out studies to investigate the problem.


词汇:

disorder /dɪs"ɔ:də(r)/ n. 障碍;紊乱;疾病
crash /kræʃ/ v.(使)碰撞
allergic /əˈlɜ:dʒɪk/ adj. 变应性的,过敏性的
lawmaker/ˈlɔ:meɪkə(r)/ n.立法者,立法机关的成员,议员
incident /ˈɪnsɪdənt/ n. 偶发事件,小事件
representative /ˌreprɪˈzentətɪv/ n. 代表
sickness /ˈsɪknəs/ n.疾病;恶心,呕吐
stomach /"stʌmək/ n.
document /"dɒkjʊmənt/ vt.记载
sleepiness /"sli:pɪnəs/ n.昏昏欲睡 

 

注释:

1.United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA):美国食品及药品管理局
2.United States Congress:美国国会
3.Rhode Island:罗得岛(美国州名)
4.New York Times:《纽约时报》
5.But, he also said there are probably more cases than are reported.不过,他也说道,可能实际病例要比报道的多。请注意本句中than的用法。than后面连接了一个句子,可是却没有主语,学术界对此有两种说法:一种认为than是关系代词,它本身在从句中作一个句子成分;另一种则认为than仍为连接词,后面省略了句子的部分成分。请看类似的句子:You spent more money than was intended to be spent.你花去的钱比预计的多。(请比较:You spent the money that was intended.)As the child grows, the jawbones grow also; therefore, there is space for more teeth than are in the first set.随着孩子的长大,颌骨也随着长大,因此就有空间供比第一套还要多的牙齿占用。

A stomach sickness drug alone caused Patrick Kennedy to crash his car into a security barrier

A:Right B:Wrong C:Not mentioned

遮栏(barrier)

堡礁(barrier reef)

Blood-Thymus barrier

Blood-air barrier

B The Brown Bear My wife Laura and I were on the beach, with three of our children, taking pictures of shore birds near our home in Alaska when we spotted a bear. The bear was thin and small, moving aimlessly. Just a few minutes later, I heard my daughter shouting, “Dad! The bear is right behind us!” An aggressive bear will usually rush forward to frighten away its enemy but would suddenly stop at the last minute. This one was silent and its ears pinned back---- the sign (迹象) of an animal that is going in for the kill. And it was a cold April day. The bear behaved abnormally, probably because of hunger. I held my camera tripod (三脚架) in both hands to form a barrier as the bear rushed into me. Its huge head was level with my chest and shoulders, and the tripod stuck across its mouth. It bit down and I found myself supporting its weight. I knew I would not be able to hold it for long. Even so, this was a fight I had to win: I was all that stood between the bear and my family, who would stand little chance of running faster than a brown bear. The bear hit at the camera, cutting it off the tripod. I raised my left arm to protect my face; the beast held tightly on the tripod and pressed it into my side. My arm could not move, and I sensed that my bones were going to break. Drawing back my free hand, I struck the bear as hard as I could for five to six times. The bear opened its mouth and I grasped its fur, trying to push it away. I was actually wrestling (扭打) with the bear at this point. Then, as suddenly as it had begun, the fight ended. The bear moved back toward the forest, before returning for another attack----- The first time I felt panic. Apparently satisfied that we caused no further threat, the bear moved off, destroying a fence as it went. My arm was injured, but the outcome for us could hardly have been better. I’m proud that my family reminded clear-headed when panic could have led to a very different outcome. The brown bear approached the family in order to ________.

A:catch shore birds B:start an attack C:protect the children D:set up a barrier for itself

The phrase "go natural" probably means ______.

A:discharge urine in open B:change clothes in public C:do whatever they like D:behave in a natural way

According to this passage, people becoming interested in natural foods because ______.

A:they are getting fired of processed foods B:they want to change their eating habits C:a lot of the foods they eat is not healthy D:food experts recommend them to have natural foods

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